The Darkest Plague

The Darkest Minds

By Alexandra Bracken

Genre: Dystopian

A dark, dark world where there is little hope we meet our main character Ruby. A plague has ravaged America, killing most of its children between the ages of 8-14. Some of those children survived, and for some reason those survivors have been gifted with incredible powers (think X-Men). However, scared of these children, the government has gathered all the children into internment camps.

Before reading this book, know that it is not the happiest of books. Ruby deals with poor treatment and torture in the camp she was sent to. She meets friends, Liam, Chubs, and Zu, who are all running from various organizations bent on using their powers for their own agendas. Without giving too much away, the story revolves around Ruby and these friends running, finding sanctuary, and having it ripped from them again and again. The heart of the story is how they deal and how they stick together.

Truly, I enjoyed this book. It is dark, it is heart-wrenching, but it is good. Ruby has such a fantastic character arc, that she's fast becoming a favourite character of mine. It reminds us of how easily we can mistreat the people that we do not understand. We've seen it in history - World War II, with Hitler's “Death Camps”, and in Canada, the Japanese Internment camps.

One itty-bitty complaint comes from not being American. The whole novel it talks about the plague in America, but rarely (if at all) does it give us a glimpse at what is happening with the rest of the world. I want to know how the world is dealing with this plague. I find it highly improbable that it would only strike American-born children. Understandably, Ruby has no way of knowing about the rest of the world, but outside non-interment-prisoner characters could easily give us little tidbits or brief tv news casts.

In this series, book 1.5 “In Time”(a novella), book 2 is “Never Fade”, and the concluding book 3 is coming out this year, 2014.

 5/5 STARS

Classroom use: This novel is lengthy (488 pages) and is therefore not practical for classroom use. However, for students interested in dystopian, I would recommend this one for sure.

Cover Note: I love the cover. Before reading the book it was only ok. I read the book, it's perfect. The trident on the front is symbolic.

Wings as Drifted Snow, Eyes as Flame*

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

By Laini Taylor

Genre: Fantasy

Dive into a world of chimera and angels so real that you want to visit. Excellent writing. Excellent world building. Fantastic characters. It is like reading a complex fairy tale.

Karou is our main character, blue haired, sixteen, and attending art school. She fills her sketchbooks full of unreal creatures, chimaerae they are called – frightening, macabre, and the only family she's ever know. She struggles to balance her life in the human world with that of her chimaerae family's. Then she meets Akiva.

Taylor's incredible world building brought me in and kept me there. I want to purchase wishes so that I can tour the apothecary shop where Karou grew up with her family. Though, I could easily travel to Prague, where the art school that Karou attends is located. For the world alone, I recommend this book.

Then there's the characters. Ah, the characters. Akiva, the angel. Zuzana, the best friend. Brimstone, her foster father. Even Kazimir, the ex-boyfriend. They all are so well crafted, they felt like people (or otherwise) you might meet. Most of all, Karou. I was expecting to dislike her. But the mysteriousness of her existence and her own questioning really drew me in. In the end, I love her.

There is a romance. It drives the story. But an unusual romance. One where it doesn't quite sit right until it makes sense.

The story is woven together so complexly that there's hints along the way of what's to come, but not so much that I never really guessed as to the meaning of it all. I had inklings. Those inklings were all wrong. Even better. A story where you can't guess the ending is the best of them all.

Recommended. Hands down.

5/5 STARS

Classroom: Skip this one.

*Note on the title: In reading the description of Akiva, my mind kept going to the description of an angel from the Basque Christmas carol "Gabriel's Message", wherein, to look upon an angel is both calming and terrifying.

A, B, C... Alphabet Book Challenge

Easy peasy? Read books starting with all the letters of the alphabet. Considering the length of my 2014 reading list, I can easily fulfill this challenge. Forseeable bumps in the road: finding books that start with letters such as Q or X*. I am not counting small words as the letters (the, a, if, etc). 

Challenge Accepted!

A - Angelfall ~ Susan Ee
B - Black Cauldron, The ~ Lloyd Alexander
C - Coldest Girl in Coldtown, The ~ Holly Black
D - Daughter of Smoke and Bone ~ Laini Taylor
E - Elske ~ Cynthia Voigt
F - Fangirl ~ Rainbow Rowell
G - Graceling ~ Kristin Cashore
H - High King's Tomb, The ~ Kristen Britain
I - Vampire, Interrupted ~ Lyndsay Sands
J - Joust ~ Mercedes Lackey
K - Keturah & Lord Death ~ Martine Leavitt
L - Love Knot, The ~ Sue Deobold
M - Monuments Men, The ~Robert M. Edsel
N - Name of the Wind, The ~ Patrick Rothfuss
O - Of Poseidon ~ Anna Banks
P - Pride and Prejudice ~ Jane Austen
Q - ////////
R - Landline ~ Rainbow Rowell
S - Shatter Me ~ Tahereh Mafi
T - This is All I Ask ~ Lynn Kurland
U - Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, The ~ Michelle Hodkin
V - Vicious ~ V.E. Schwab
W - Wrinkle in Time, A ~ Madeleine L'Engle 
X - ////////
Y - Young Adult Literature: Romance to Realism ~ Michael Cart
Z - Shadow of the Wind, The ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon

* By the end of the year, I was wanting to read any book rather than trying desperately to find books with a Q or an X that I wanted to read. I gave up on those two and pushed the boundary on some of the other letters. 

Am I Slowly Going Crazy...

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

By Michelle Hodkin

Genre: Supernatural, Contemporary

Hmmmm. This is a confusing book. Though not as confusing as I thought it would be. The narrator suffers from amnesia, so we remember and “hallucinate” along with her.

Mara Dyer was in an accident. Three of her friends were killed. She remembers nothing. Moving to Florida to start anew, she begins to unravel as the events of that tragic night flash back to her.

How I feel is mixed. The plot premise intrigued me. As I was reading this I was constantly suspicious of everything. Was that real? No, that was? What is happening?!

I liked: The main character, Mara, is hilarious, cautious, and just wants to get on with her life. She makes for an unreliable narrator, and that's half the fun. Noah is a fun love interest. The dynamics between her brothers and her. Hodkin creates her characters well.

On the fence: The explanation of everything. No spoilers here. That's all I'm going to say.

Disliked: The pacing of this book was dreadfully slow. I powered through in two days, but the story dragged at the beginning and hit some slumps halfway through.

Overall, it's not quite my kind of book, but if you love being confused, suspicious, finding yourself exclaiming “What!?”, and chuckling at Mara's interactions with Noah, then read it.

3.5/5 STARS

Classroom: Nope.

Celestial Shades

Shadows Cast by Stars

by Catherine Knutsson

Genre: Sci-Fi

Drawn to the beautiful title and cover, and then to its setting, this was find of the year. I read the back, then the author's bio and was sold. From my Christmas gifts, I was most excited to read this one.

Set in the future, on the West Coast of Canada, on an island very much like Vancouver Island, we are introduced to a world where a plague ravages the people who have survived land-destroying earthquakes. Cassandra, a Métis, lives in the Old Way with her twin brother, Paul, and her father. There is something in the blood of aboriginal people that protect them from the plague and the government actively searches them out to harvest (for lack of a better word). They escape to the island where they must integrate with a Band that is also in hiding. Here they are met with challenges of social order, personal struggles, and the ever present fear that something is wrong with the Spirit World.

Knutsson drew me in with her poetic descriptions of the landscape and everyday life on the island. She wove intricate myths and tales into the fabric of this story in a delicate and relateable manner. As Cass learns to be a medicine women, she travels further and further into the Spirit World. Here is where reality blurs and I loved it. Honestly, I wish there were more books out there like this. Finally, a Canadian author that I want to recommend to friend after friend. Beautiful.

The beginning is a little slow, but soon after Cass and her family arrive on the island it picks up and runs. Believable and complex characters, you get the sense that something else is going on with everyone that you meet. Nothing is as it seems. Some secrets never get revealed completely and that's like real life isn't it? We never truly know a person to their core.

Because I know Vancouver Island well, I felt a personal connection with this novel. My nagging fear of an earthquake surfaced. And Cass can see people's totems, or Spirit animals. I wonder what mine would be?

5/5 STARS

In the Classroom: Individual or Literacy Circles. There are many serious topics and cultural issues to discuss. Perfect jumping board to discuss West Coast aboriginal myths. Recommended for age 14 and up.

2013 Top 5 Reads

Looking back on the last year, reviewing all of my ratings, I have compiled a list of the five books that I enjoyed the most in 2013.

1. The Book Thief ~ Marcus Zusak

Mainly, I read this book so that I could see the movie. 

When I finished the book I found that the book was enough.
I didn't need the movie. 

There was no way that the movie would fulfill all of my emotional wants.

This book left me emotionally raw and it's the most moving and beautifully written.

2. The Night Circus ~ Erin Morgenstern

The first page gave me shivers.

I expected the narrative to be jarring. It was perfect.

Each chapter managed to be just as magical as the next.

I found some favourite quotes from the end.

I lived in a world of magic for a week.

3. Throne of Glass ~ Sarah J Maas

I became immersed into a beautiful world.

This book hooked me with the intrigue and pure fantasy. 

Action, mystery, fantasy, magic, and a little dash of romance.

4. The Bone Season ~ Samantha Shannon

Took a chance with this one. I was confused for the first third.

The world is incredibly complex and does not reveal itself easily. 

Once it clicked, I love LOVED this book. 

I cannot wait for more. 

5. Divergent ~ Veronica Roth

Hooked. Fast paced. 

Easy and enjoyable read.

Honorable Mentions:

The Art of Character ~ David Corbett

Non-fiction, otherwise it would have made the top 5. 

It was full of clear advice and great exercises. 

Now that I write more and more, I found it incredibly helpful. 

If you have no believeable or complex characters, your story is bland.

Dealing With Dragons ~ Patricia C. Wrede

A re-read for me. 

This story turns the tropes of fantasy into charming quirks.
As a fan of fantasy books, I loved the main character and laughed many times.

New Year, New Goals

Welcome to 2014! 

We've made it... so far.

Resolutions for the new year deal with two things: MORE reading and MORE writing. Oh, and hey, back in 2011 I had a blog all about those two.

This year, something completely different. Reviews? Yes. Commentary on classroom use? If the book requires it. Stars? Absolutely.

Since 2011, much has changed with the formatting of this site, so I will be experimenting with pages. Keeping myself on track for my massive reading list. Ugh, I found BookTube. Bad idea. BAD IDEA! And yet, so good because I was recommended book after book after book. Fantastic.

What to expect:

- Updates once a week for a whole year
- Challenges
- Reviews and additional commentary

Here's to keeping those resolutions.
Cheers!